I first acquired a copy of Silent Hill less than a month after its release in 1999. Due to various circumstances, I was unable to beat the game despite multiple attempts with a few different copies. When I finally reacquired it a few years ago, I decided at some point I would sit down and force my way through it, to stop it from being the one white whale of gaming that I had to stare down. Nearly 20 years have passed since the game first ended up in my hands. At that moment, on my last birthday of the previous millennium, I was a novice at horror gaming; I'm a seasoned veteran now, with multiple wins over Silent Hill games in my belt. With the Summer Games Challenge up and running, I decided it was finally time. I engaged, and I succeeded.

There are a lot of aspects of Silent Hill I could talk about. If you followed my progress in the Summer Games Challenge thread, you'd have already witnessed that first hand(for those of you who did not, I will link my entries at the end of this review). The important thing to understand is that this was a game obviously designed by horror enthusiasts who love the genre. It's particularly nostalgic for me because it represents or ties into many troubling moments over the course of my life, and even events in recent years tie back to it in my mind. Despite not beating it, Silent Hill became a sort of benchmark for me, a linchpin in the fabric of the horror genre as well as a sort of graphical representation of some of life's weirder, freakier, or scarier moments.

In short, I think the game is amazing.

Yes, there are problems. There feels like a lack of information with one major subplot involving the local narcotics trade that really helps tie it in to the main story, and what plot you receive is often guided through intentionally cryptic and vague hints. I like this because it makes the plot more disjointed, a sort of dilapidation of story that adheres to the world around it, but at times I felt it might have been due to awkward translation. There are also some relatively minor but important differences across versions, including cut information that explains elements I found important.

Silent Hill is also not an easy game. Combat is rudimentary and often lacking. Camera control is limited and often stuck to specific angles that may hinder or disorient the player. Controls are in a quasi-evolutionary state as survival horror tried to move away from tank controls. View distance is extremely limited, and enemies are mobile or sometimes work together. Puzzles are intentionally designed with red herrings that may throw you off. In truth, I didn't beat Silent Hill in 1999 because I wasn't ready to. I wasn't capable of handling and coping with the difficulties that are inherent in its design.

Audio is one of the game's absolute triumphs. While sound effects are decent, specifically the radar-like radio stands out as one of the most important tools in your inventory, and you will need it to serve as your eyes more often than not. Music in the game is intentionally designed to ape on that fire, and it will come on unrelenting, often with a steady hum that makes you suspect the radio might be lying to you. What other soundtrack instills a creeping dread on this level? None that I know of.

As of now, I've made it through a large chunk of the Silent Hill line, and considering what I have left of the series to play, I am confident in declaring that I've seen the pinnacle of the franchise. Many people declare endlessly on the qualities of Silent Hill 2, followed by 3, and I don't disagree with them on either. 3 is actually a personal favorite. But having finally cleared the first one...I'm having trouble deciding which of the three is the best. If you consider yourself a horror fan, you owe it to play the first three.

An interesting life experience and connection there with the game Ack. I guess it's kind of like how I was exposed to RE2 very early in life, but didn't get around to that one until many years later myself when I finally had my own copy. I can actually admit to beating RE4 first before diving into the earlier games again, and now it's one of my favorite franchises for the most part. It was probably almost 10 years later until I got to RE2 myself and it was definitely a real time capsule back to the past and so much of it came back to me like I never forgot any of it.

I'm surprised you mention SH3 as a potential favorite, but even after a single replay I feel like that one de-leveled. The self aware (intentional?) comical aspects rub me a little wrong, and the game itself is just way too brief, like an entire large level or two was cut. Gameplay wise it's the original formula to perfection and the monster designs are absolutely amazing, Heather is a great protag, and it finally gets interesting when it dives into the religious lore near the end, but yeah. It's a bit messy for me. 1, 2, and 4 feel more coherent and focused on the tale they were telling, and I love how 1 leaves a bit up to interpretation.

I laughed at you bitch slapping the piano puzzle. That was one of the craziest puzzles I've seen in ages.

The boss battles were kind of cool to me in SH1, even though many could argue they feel very forced in a "games need boss battles" kind of fashion, but I didn't mind them. The haunting roar of the siren and the world reverting back to normal when beating them was so creepy and makes you question what you just beat the tar out of was and if that was a good thing. No other game has made me feel very unnerving AFTER beating a boss. It's hellish depiction of the Otherworld holds up really well too and I'm definitely a fan of this and SH3's depiction the most, over the other games (2's is very cool with the story lore and all, but 1/3 win on "cool factor" lol).

Managed to beat this before that young punk Elkin, so I'm happy about that. This game is definitely not what people were expecting when the project was first announced with no other details, but I think it turned out to be an excellent RPG.

The quick description of TMS is that it's a Persona game where the Personas are replaced with Fire Emblem characters and the school life is replaced with the idol industry. The game removes the time management system of Persona 3 and 4 in favor of a chapter system. The game is structured into chapters, where the chapter is the main quest, dungeon, and boss fight, and then it's followed by an intermission. The intermission tends to unlock access to personal quests for your teammates. There's also a bunch of sidequests that can be tackled at any time (once they unlock). Character advancement comes through two mechanics. You forge weapons which have unlockable skills (similar to the magatama system of SMT: Nocturne) which you use to customize your characters. Each character does have a focus in abilities, so a lot of the customization comes from the supporting abilities you decide to use vs. damaging moves. The other piece of advancement is passive abilities unlocked as you use your characters. In addition to level you also have a "Stage Rank", which is raised as the character participates in battles, and each rank gives you access to a new passive. You also need certain ranks to do personal quests.

Combat-wise this is the most interesting SMT game yet. Like previous games the emphasis is on hitting enemy weaknesses. What makes this game unique is that hitting weakness starts a Session. This is a chain of attacks from your party members. Each character has a selection of session skills, which are particular links in the chain (and these are also gained from weapons). One might be a Sword-Blizzard, which casts an ice spell in response to a sword attack, while another could be Fire-Lunge, which is to use a lance attack in response to a fire attack. You start off only being able to use your active party, but as the game progresses your inactive party members can join in the chain as well (this gives them battle participation for things that care about that, such as weapon skill experience and stage rank). This allows for some large chains. And the various link types matters when enemies start to get null and repel element attributes, as the game does try and create a chain that doesn't get broken early by either of those, so the more links available the better. And then there's some additional levels on top of all of that. As you progress through the game you unlock Duo Arts, which are special moves that randomly trigger off of session chains; when they trigger you're given a prompt on screen to use it or not (two will trigger at any one time and you pick one). This consists of two characters doing some kind of even more damaging move and usually another benefit, such as a party heal or inflicting a guaranteed status on non-immune. This also starts a new session. And as it turns out this can retrigger (though it's extremely rare; I only saw it once). These can really change the tide of battle. The other important thing about the Duo Arts is they trigger the Overkill state. This is something that normally triggers after you've killed an enemy; once that triggers then all elemental resistance (including null and repel) are voided, which can let sessions go longer and also let you get in more damage. There are also special skills that cost a global SP resource (caps at three, is gained from attacking and being hit as well as a rare item) which also automatically trigger a session and the Overkill state, so they can be useful for getting through a tricky set of nulls (and that's before you get into their other passive benefits). And final finally, there are certain slayer skills taken from Fire Emblem that are effective against dragons, armor knights, or cavalry, and those also auto trigger a session and Overkill.

Ok, so combat mechanics down. The dungeons are also far more interesting than the previous two Persona games. Each dungeon is hand crafted and has a navigational puzzle to get through it. A few of them require some real thinking as well, rather than just flipping a variety of switches in a fairly obvious way. Definitely fun to get through.

Oh, and by far the best part of the game is that it finally reveals the hidden lyrics to the Fire Emblem theme.

Games Beaten: 2015201620172018Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.

Pretty slick little Castlevania-like set in ancient Greece. Pretty tough, too. There's a hidden ending as well that I managed to get. I battered against this for a couple of runs, and got stuck on Act VI, but this last time I cruised all the way to the end without burning continues. The last boss was easy because I had so many arrows stockpiled, and just enough cash to buy some armor. I pretty much tanked him.

Anyway, it's completely, totally free! Seriously cost-effective, to say the least. I actually think that, outside of replacing a few sound effects, the guy could sell this one. I've seen a lot, lot worse on Steam. He's also got a bunch of other stuff, too. I tried the G&G clone, and it seemed pretty slick, too.

EDIT: Always wanted to play through Alisia Dragoon. It's... different. The main attack reminds me a lot of, say, the lock-on shot in Panzer Dragoon (what's with that and dragoons, anyway?). The game has a nice anime influence, and I'd almost proclaim it to be one of the best overlooked games ever...

...but the color palette is rather dull at times. That sounds like a stupid complaint that keeps it from being awesome, but the backdrops are so detailed that the game is very hard to "parse". This means you're likely going to get hit by a lot of shots, a lot of enemies, and well... pretty much everything. That your own shot tends to go wild filling the screen with so much going on, and your helper as well, just adds to the mania. I think with more practice, I'd be better at it, but dang if you're not going to take a bunch of hits.

You also want to poke around as much as possible. There are tons of items that will extend your life meter, your helpers' life meters, power up your magic, continues, you name it. And you'll need 'em.

Really, it is a fascinating game, it's just a bit flawed. I'd love to find a copy in the wild, though.

EDIT 2: Started Crescent Isle a while back. It's a little unpolished, but a kind of combination of Monster World and Super Mario Bros. 2. I like a lot of the spritework, and would love to see something like this expanded and refined a bit more. My understanding is that it was originally on XBOX Live Indies or whatever they called that program. Not a terrible way to spend 1.5 hours.

Also, the guy that put this together (Adam Mowery / Balrog) is one of the denizens over on the Talking Time forum, which is one of the other places I hang out. It's honestly the only reason I knew about the game!

Last edited by Sarge on Sun Jul 10, 2016 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The latest Kirby game maintains the charm of its predecessors, but it's also about as easy. Kirby games are nice comfort food and I find them relaxing. And this one is no different.

Mechanically you've got the standard eat and copy power action we've seen since Adventure. The main new ability is the mech suit you sometimes get. Most of the time it's used as a beefy attacker who can copy powers for elemental abilities. The mech suit can interact with a bunch of stuff in the world for some minor puzzle solving. However, there's two special ones that put in some gameplay changes. Getting a jet enemy turns it into a hori shmup level. Getting a wheel turns it into a racing cart and lets you transition between the two planes at will.

That's something that should be mentioned; the game takes a cue from Wario on the Virtual Boy by having two main planes where you can traverse when you hit certain transition stars or pipes. But enemies can freely traverse as needed. It makes good use of the 3D effect, though it's certainly not necessary to succeed.

The game also has the final boss fight be Star Fox, and that's ok with me.

Games Beaten: 2015201620172018Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.

Metro Last Light Redux pulled me in, unlike the original 2033. I enjoyed it enough that I started up the Redux version of 2033 and it also seems more fun and retooled in a good way. I might continue playing that now or focus on other stuff.

Last Light has amazing atmosphere (I actually like the surface areas the best), and tells a pretty solid story. The level detail density is quite insane, especially the little "towns" throughout the game that look very believable and alive with NPC's going about their day. I played on Spartan mode and don't regret it, because the game is so scripted and linear I figure Survival/less ammo and items would just be frustrating and not in a fun way. I can't remember if 2033 had this mode too, but the Redux version does.

Well to beat a dead note, it still stands that I prefer STALKER tenfold to this. STALKER drops you out in the zone and lets you run wild, never holding your hand for anything, and the maps are very large letting you soak in the atmosphere and take your time. STALKER is largely unscripted, nor is it truly "open world" in a Besthesda/Ubisoft kind of way that feels aimless after awhile, so all the large maps are pretty memorable and awesome.

Metro is about the complete opposite in design. It's Uncharted level scripted with player control being stripped from you numerous times. You jump between levels very rapidly and fast making it feel quite disjointed. I can't fathom how cool a giant Metroidvania like tunnel system would have felt like in this, but instead the small levels are completely fragmented... which in a roundabout way makes the game feel smaller to me. The next big issue is the escort mission. I actually don't think I mind escort missions in most games, but in this case... YOU are the escort. There is literally somewhere around 5 or more times in the story where you are forced to follow an NPC around that takes the lead. Shouldn't I be the lead? It just really messes with the flow of the game to me and the immersion. I'm more of a pure, "free" gameplay driven kind of gamer, so this is the type of game that feels very taxing to me. I remember my first session felt like it was literally all day long, but Steam showed I only played for 3 hours. I can usually only play heavily scripted games like this in very short bursts. In comparison, I also started up Doom 3 BFG again recently which just lets you "go" and I can easily play games like it for hours without exhaustion.

The second half got cooler to me with the supernatural elements and the ending was pretty awesome. Overall, it was decent enough for me to be considering going through 2033 Redux now as well and it's a very good single player FPS, but it definitely has issues and the gameplay isn't quite as awesome as new Wolfenstein and whatnot.

The expansion pack for Sin, Wages of Sin doesn't really bring much to the table. It's about half the length of Sin and I found the levels to be less interesting. The game has several new enemies, all of which are annoying to fight. The game has a few new weapons, but half of them are utter shit and the other two are really only useable against bosses. One shoots four missiles out of a backpack at your cursor, which means in any sort of enclosed area (read, all of the game) you'll take tons of splash, and the other is essentially a redeemer with multiple shots in reserve, so again, not good for regular enemies.

The game continues to wish it was Duke Nukem through the quips from your protagonist and the large number of pop culture references. The one that sticks out the most is your mission control gets distracted from helping you because he's watching the second half of Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut from Southpark (with the names altered to avoid infringement). It sticks out more than Duke Nukem's references does, in a bad way.

Honestly, if this didn't come as part of Sin Gold from the GOG purchase I'd tell people to not bother. But if you've already got it you might as well give it a go.

Games Beaten: 2015201620172018Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.

Ugh, Popo. I tried SiN a few years back and quit about halfway through because I didn't like it. Something about the game felt incredibly off to me. That is too bad that the expansion doesn't improve the situation. I will wait before trying to go back again.